HSF

a Step Towards the Multilingual World ...

Lesson 6
Vocabulary Summary: Simplified: Vocabulary Summary: Traditional:

lng lng
Zero Zero

y y
One One

r r
Two Two

sn sn
Three Three

s s
Four Four

w w
Five Five

li li
Six Six

q q
Seven Seven

b b
Eight Eight
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Vocabulary Summary: Simplified: Vocabulary Summary: Traditional:

ji ji
Nine Nine

sh sh
Ten Ten

shw shw
Fifteen Fifteen

snsh snsh
Thirty Thirty

snshy snshy
Thirty one Thirty one

snshw snshw
Thirty five Thirty five

snshji snshji
Thirty nine Thirty nine

ssh ssh
Forty Forty

yu yu
Month Month

yyu yyu
January January
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a Step Towards the Multilingual World ...

Vocabulary Summary: Simplified: Vocabulary Summary: Traditional:

ryu ryu
February February

snyu snyu
March March

syu syu
April April

wyu wyu
May May

liyu liyu
June June

qyu qyu
July July

byu byu
August August

jiyu jiyu
September September

shyu shyu
October October

shyyu shyyu
November November
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a Step Towards the Multilingual World ...

Vocabulary Summary: Simplified: Vocabulary Summary: Traditional:

shryu shryu
December December

ho ho
Number Number

r r
Day / Sun Day / Sun

nin nin
Year Year

tin tin
Day Day

jntin jntin
Today Today

jnnin jnnin
This year This year

mngtin mngtin
Tomorrow Tomorrow

mngnin mngnin
Next year Next year

zutin zutin
Yesterday Yesterday
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a Step Towards the Multilingual World ...

Vocabulary Summary: Simplified: Vocabulary Summary: Traditional:

qnin qnin
Last year Last year

shngr shngr
Birthday Birthday

zu zu
Yesterday Yesterday

shng shng
To be born To be born

Lesson 6 Notes :
Yu also means moon.
Yu / month
Tin and r are synonyms meaning day. R tends to be used more often in written forms while tin is
more commonly used in the spoken form. As a result, you may see jnr written in place of jntin .
Tin / day
r / sun / day
R / day
tin / day
jnr / today
jntin / today
When reading Chinese dates, you always go from biggest to smallest. So where applicable, we start
with the year first, then month, then day.

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a Step Towards the Multilingual World ...

Use of numbers in Chinese:

While many Chinese write numbers in English these days, the Chinese system of writing is still quite
prevalent. You will notice that the characters use very simple strokes to allow them to be written quickly
and easily. In more formal occasions however, like when writing cheques, a more complex system of
writing numbers is used to prevent fraud (since it would be quite easy to change a one () into
two() or three () otherwise). Take a look at the formal list in Simplified and Traditional Chinese
characters.
Culture Note:
In Chinese, the number 4 is considered unlucky since s sounds very similar to s , the word for death.
The number 8 however is considered lucky because b sounds similar to f , which means to get rich.
s / four
s / death
b / eight
f / get rich
Review Examples and Exercises
Translate the following.
1. Q sh ji / 79
2. Sn sh s / 34
3. S sh sn / 43
4. Sh li / 16
5. r sh w / 25
6. S sh li / 46
7. r sh sn / 23
8. Sh s / 14
9. B sh q / 87
10. Sn sh w / 35
11. Sh q / 17
12. W sh ji / 59
13. Sn sh / 30
14. Li sh sn / 63

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 HSF
a Step Towards the Multilingual World ...

15. B sh y / 81
16. Liyu sh r r . / June 12th
17. Y ji ji sn nin qyu w r .
. / .
July 5th, 1993 .
18. Tde shngr sh snyu sh ji r .
. / .
His birthday is (on) March 19th .
19. r lng lng sn nin yyu r sh r .
. / .
January 20th, 2003 .
20. Wde shngr sh y ji q w nin shryu r sh sn r .
. / .
My birthday is on December 23rd, 1975 .

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